Unless you want to sit on the grass, there is no longer anywhere to rest your bones at Selby Five Points Park in downtown Sarasota.
That's because the benches that used to line the triangle-shaped park near the Selby Library were removed after Sarasota city leaders received complaints of homeless people monopolizing them for hours.
Marta Grande is just one of those who didn't like what she was seeing in the park.
"People were sitting on the benches with their backpacks and their dirty alcohol bottles and this and that, hypodermic needles, all day long," Grande said.
This afternoon about 60 people opposed to the benches being removed staged a sit-in of sorts. They brought their own folding chairs and set them up near where the benches used to be.
"Us as citizens, our-taxpaying dollars paid for the benches and then they remove the benches out of a public park. I mean what's next? Remove all the water fountains out of the city?" asked protester Junior Matthews.
Holes and sheered-off bolts are all that remain of the green benches at the park. The removal could only be temporary, though, as the move will be reconsidered in three months.
Meanwhile, city leaders are considering a new law that would outlaw smoking in Sarasota parks. The law is billed as another way to limit loitering in the parks.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement
Advertisement